


When you walk in

by charons_boat



Series: Curses Upon the Innocent [5]
Category: EXO (Band), TXT (Korea Band), The Boyz (Korea Band), 방탄소년단 | Bangtan Boys | BTS
Genre: Affection, Animal Trafficking, Arguments, Baby dragons - Freeform, Bond Breaking, CatHybrid!Beomgyu, CatHybrid!Kai, CatHybrid!Soobin, CatHybrid!Taehyun, Coconut Hatred, Coupons, Curses, DeerHybrid!Luhan, Discounts, Display, Dreams, Free Stuff, Ghosts, Gifts, Hybrids, Illegal trade, Incineration, Insecurity, M/M, Magic, Memories, Misunderstandings, Mock Fighting, Moving, Moving On, Namjoon is mentioned - Freeform, Old memories, Packing, Party Crashing, Punishment, Real Estate Agent, Road Trip, Scars, Scolding, Shedding, Showing Off, Sphinx!Chanhee, Strangers, Sulking, Taehyun tutors kids in potions, Torture, Transmutation, Trauma, Wards, Witch!Jongin, Witch!Yixing, Witches, Wyvern - Freeform, Wyvern!Yeonjun, Young and Free the song, a red cavern?, baby wyverns, beomgyu is really distracting, big gasp, black market auction, breaking rules, character development yay, especially with beomgyu and yeonjun, featherlight, forced shifting, fruit juice, goodbye fancy car hello sports mom van, hint hint yoongi's wallet is magical, idk it's just a very warm December, incinerating, injuries, jungkook is mentioned, like moving to a different house, links to something else if you squint, lots of ghost hunting, lots of playing, lots of potion brewing, lots of ward making, magic reflections, magically warm winter, mentions of intent to cause another harm, mentions of yoongi's old coven, myth, old gifts, or global warming?, protesting of free stuff, pseudo-adoption, ranting, selling gifts, slowing shifting, soobin and taehyun won't risk magical contamination, the elixir of life, they all cuddle a lot, they talk about the past, witch!changmin, witch!yoongi, writing lists, yoongi is kinda famous
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-05
Updated: 2020-02-18
Packaged: 2021-02-27 12:48:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 12
Words: 14,786
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22137307
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/charons_boat/pseuds/charons_boat
Summary: The cursing, capturing, and selling of hybrids was illegal. It was a more recent law set down by the mysterious witch council, but it was still enforced; to a degree.Silly things like laws had never stopped Jongin.
Relationships: Choi Chanhee | New/Ji Changmin | Q, Choi Soobin/Lu Han, Min Yoongi | Suga & Kim Jongin | Kai
Series: Curses Upon the Innocent [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1542079
Comments: 8
Kudos: 14





	1. I'll be on guard around you, snarling

**Author's Note:**

> This is going to be the last origin installment for TXT!! After this there'll be a whole lot of stories about side characters, whether they appear in any of these or not. I'm very excited.

I've been alive for less than a decade, and I've been cursed for a little over a year.

They cursed me with transmutation, and thank god they did it the right way. If they hadn't, the extent of my curse would have dragged my body down, would have pulled my scales from my skin. The weight of my bones would have stopped my movement, and the silver in my veins would have fallen through my veins and my flesh long ago. 

I've seen it happen. I've seen what happens when an inexperienced witch tries to curse with transmutation. When that curse is used, it has to be used in tandem with a featherlight curse, to make the metals lighter; to make sure the metals won't shred the body of the cursed. 

I watched from the shadows of my cave as the witches wrested a dragonnet from it's dead mother's claws. I watched as they cursed the poor baby with transmutation, and for a moment all was normal. The dragonnet was soon covered with beautiful scales of gold, an undertone of red shimmering just under the surface. But these witches were either inexperienced or they just didn't care. The dragonnet let out a scream, one that started low in it's throat and became higher as it went on; as those heavy golden scales cleaved away from it's skin, the delicate skin beneath ripping as it tried to hold onto it's protection. Blood spilled over the golden scales as they dropped to the ground, and that was the moment that led to my discovery. 

For I couldn't hold back my rage after that. I launched myself from the cave with a roar of rage and defiance, and I landed just in front of them. I opened my jaws and threw my fire towards them, a hotter blaze than I'd ever produced before. It incinerated the witches where they stood and melted the cursed gold. Once I was certain the witches were all dead, I turned my attention to the dragonnet. It was crying pitifully, just barely alive. A hot tear rolled down my face as I nudged the baby softly with my nose. It blinked at me and closed its eyes, and I breathed a gentle flame over it, just hot enough to light the tiny body on fire. I did the same for the baby's poor mother just as a rancid scent entered my nose. 

I whipped my head around, and there on the ridge was a silhouette, indefinite against the horizon. Another witch, this one dealing with the darkness. I could smell the chaos radiating off the witch, tainting the entire area with its presence. I snarled, and suddenly the witch was in front of me. I backed away in alarm, but the witch muttered a few words and I was reminded why I'd been hiding. The witch had locked me into one place with a few words, words that wouldn't mean anything when said by any human but this one. Because this one worked with darkness and chaos, and that was not something that could be done by more than one. This was Kim Jongin, the feared witch of the Dark One, and none could defeat him. 

The witch chuckled as he walked closer, running his long fingers over the scales on my chest. They tingled, and I let out a choked wail; he was cursing me. The witch laughed and continued on his path, moving his hand down my chest and running it across my belly. I felt the magic, the curse, spreading outward from his touch. I felt it move deeper, settling into my blood and my bones. And yet I only felt slightly heavier, so he must have been doing it correctly. He must have been double cursing me with both transmutation and featherlight. And for that, I was thankful, because I was a rather large wyvern and with everything he was affecting, I was sure I'd have been ripped to shreds quite quickly if he were doing this any other way. 

Tears rolled big and hot down my cheeks as he continued, running his hand over my tail. The tingling was uncomfortable, and it made my skin itch. He walked around the other side and came to stand in front of me again. He motioned for me to lower my head, and I did so begrudgingly. He already had me, so there was little point in resisting him. He ran both hands over my cheeks and down my neck, and the odd sensation nearly made me gag. I hated this. 

As it spread over my back, finally coming to my wings, I curled up on the ground; I was allowed to move enough to do that at least. It felt like it had been hours since he first touched me. The tingling stopped, and I looked at the witch wearily. It was going to take a while to get used to the extra weight; it wasn't much, only a couple dozen pounds maybe, but it would be strange to move around with it for a while. So I lay wearily on the ground and waited for him to tell me what he'd done. 

But the witch just stood there, gawking at me. Staring at what he'd done in pure, unadulterated wonder and joy. A large, cruel smile split his face, and I closed my eyes so I wouldn't have to see it. It disturbed me, and I hated that I'd let this happen to me. He rested his hand against my face, and I took momentary pleasure in the fact that though he was rather big for a human, his hand was barely the size of one of my eyes. 

"I didn't expect it to look this nice," the witch said. I grumbled and he laughed again. "I'll bet you'd like to see, wouldn't you?" I sighed, a huff of breath that stirred up the dust. "Hey, open your eyes." So I did, and in front of me I saw a mirror image of myself, though there was something very different about the reflection than I was used to.

My reflection stayed curled up on the ground as I got up, and I realized it was a spell. I inspected the prone form, narrowing my eyes at how subdued it looked. The apparition was widely silver; every scale transmuted into the precious metal. I knew what the weight in my veins was when I saw the silver irises on the image. The horns were no longer black; they were instead twisted together wires of silver and steel, coiled up upon each other to form my horns. The threads were so small, and the coils so tight, that it was hard to tell that they were even metal. They just looked like any wyvern's normal horns, assuming the wyvern was naturally silver and grey in color. 

The thin skin of my wings was silvery because of the silver that now ran through my veins. The scales that had lined the bones of my wings were silver as well, and I momentarily wondered what shedding would be like. Afterall, I wasn't done growing yet; I still had a few decades of that left. I wondered if this new development would hinder my growth in any way. 

"Hmm, I was going to kill you and dismantle you, for lack of a better word, and sell your pieces. But, you do look rather nice. I bet you earn more at auction alive than in pieces. What do you think, hmm," the witch asked. I didn't answer, and the witch smiled. 

"Yes, I think I will sell you at auction someday. I want to show you off first though, build up your reputation; show that I did much better with this curse than the last one did," the witch said. I didn't understand what the last part meant at that time, and I'm not sure how I learned what it did mean. But I now know what he meant.

Transmutation curses are very difficult and require a lot of magic. Before me, the most successful use of the curse had turned the other wyvern's blood into silver, which made it's irises a silver color and shifted it's skin towards a more silvery tone, changed it's hair and scales turning into steel, and made it's horns into wound up coils of silver and steel. Much like me, but with less silver. And Jongin had changed my bones like he'd changed my horns. 

According to Jongin, I was the most complete transmuted creature to ever exist.


	2. now I'm thankin' ya

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> He suddenly went from an object to a person in a car, his ear being chattered off by the blond next to him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I prob said this last time but taehyun talks a lot more in this one

He kept me for a year, until I changed into a human for the first time. The both of us were shocked when I woke up a small human boy, about five years old, very cold in the cage. I hadn't been very warm since he changed my blood into silver, and it was getting colder everyday.

By that time, he'd paraded me around his parties and events so often that everyone knew about me. And know that everyone knew about me, everyone wanted me, everyone wanted to pay Jongin a lot of money for me. So he gave the people what they wanted.

He put me in boxers for the portion of the pre-auction presentation in which I'd have to change into my human form. He announced a bunch of stuff over the speakers first, about how great he was for being able to affect me so fully and about how great and well-behaved I was. The truth of that was that he simply didn't allow defiance in any way, and he was very creative with his punishments.

And then I was paraded out from my room sized cage, and all the people gasped as I stood up and my head came up above the top edge of the wall. They oohed and ahhed as I came out from behind the wall and walked over to Jongin, standing next to him; towering over him.

"And here he is ladies and gentleman, a wyvern through and through. The most completely transmuted wyvern to ever exist, cursed by yours truly," Jongin said brightly, cocking a thumb towards himself with a big, charming smile, even going so far as to add a wink. "He's throughly cursed, right down to his bones and his blood. And, as an added bonus, he's quite the cute little boy." And I let the crowd speculate what that meant, as he'd said I should, letting them talk for a few moments before starting to shift in a very exaggerated way. The low grinding of metal on metal caught their attention, as it wasn't something they heard very often. They watched, seemingly enamored, as my body creaked and groaned and folded in on itself. A few people ran out, probably about to puke. I could understand that, because this was very odd and disturbing to watch at such a slow pace.

And when the little display was finished, I stood a good sixteen feet shorter, and a great deal thinner. I took a moment to look at the silvery skin of my hands and the thin silver nails on the ends of my fingers. They looked a lot like normal nails, somewhat see-through somehow, just with a silvery sheen when looked at straight on in the light. I glanced up at the crowd through the silver strands of my hair as I tried to ignore the weight of my horns and wings and tail. I hadn't grown big enough for my wings or my horns yet, and I knew they looked very awkward on me.

The crowd was cooing now, probably going on and on to to those next to them about how precious I was; which was stupid, because sure I was young, not even a century old, but I wasn't near young enough to look like a five year old too big for his parts. I ignored Jongin as he started the auction, instead focusing on how itchy my skin was. I sighed inaudibly when I thought about shedding. If the people hadn't liked my exaggerated shift, they really wouldn't like watching or hearing me shed.

My attention was drawn back to the crowd when a very loud car screeched to a very sudden stop on the asphalt. I whipped my head up and stared at the dark red car. It was a weird color, like they'd done a very dark layer and then put a semi-clear layer of dark red over it, and then polished it until it shined. I stared as the doors opened and a group of five guys got out. Three of them were very tall, the two noirets and the brunet, one was very short, the blond, and one was a few inches shorter than the tallest three, the one that had green-blue hair that was just a little too blue to be called mint-green.

The men walked closer to the crowd, completely at ease. They were laughing and hanging off each other, the little blond one skipping around and making lots of noise with his jewelry. They walked in the empty space between the rows of chairs, coming to a stop in front of Jongin on his box. The man with the dyed hair cast a lingering glance at me before turning a new smile onto Jongin.

"So, what's it at right now, hmm," the man asked Jongin. Jongin gave him a disinterested look before turning back to the crowd.

"$50 million going one, going twice-"

"I'll pay three times that if you stop the auction right now," the man said. The other auction goers gasped, in shock and indignation. Jongin scowled and stepped off the box. He stepped around the tall podium and stood in front of the stranger. His hands were balled into loose fists at his side.

"I thought I made it clear you weren't welcome at my auctions, Min Yoongi," the dark witch said lowly. Yoongi smirked.

"And I thought I made it clear that I didn't care what you thought. Just so happens that I still don't care," the other man said. Jongin snarled and pulled an arm back, his hand now firmly balled up. One of the tall ones, the noiret without jewelry, caught Jongin's fist as he went to hit Yoongi. Jongin's eyes went wide in surprise.

"I suggest you take his money and stop trying to hit him, or else we'll just take the kid and you'll get nothing out of this," the man said, his voice low and rough. Jongin tried to pull his hand back. "You're weaker than me. Stop trying to get out. Are you going to take his money, or are you going to be a complete fool?" The other man tightened his grasp on Jongin's fist, and the witch winced.

"S-sold for $150 million," Jongin said. He said it again, louder and without stuttering, when the other noiret grabbed the mic off his podium. Meanwhile the little blond one skipped over to me and waved enthusiastically, his bracelets clanging into each other.

"Hello! I'm Beomgyu! What's your name," the man asked. I wondered why he was so small when he was so obviously full-grown. He didn't have a child's face like I did.

"Yeonjun. Why are you so small," I asked. I was worried for a second that I might sound rude, but he laughed it off.

"I was cursed really young. Like, a few days old I think. That plus the fact that I was already going to be a small cat resulted in me being tiny. Took too much energy out of me to grow both sides I think," he said.

"Oh. Wait, so you guys are like me," I asked. He nodded and grabbed his tail.

"Yup, we've all got our kitty ears and tails! Well, except for Yoongi, cause he's our witch not a hybrid. And Kai's ghosts aren't all hybrids. Only one is, and there's a witch and two humans. Oh, and we just got the thing figured out yesterday, so we met them then, and Yixing and Lu are visiting tomorrow. You know," the energetic blond said as we started walking towards the red car, "we weren't going to come today, cause we didn't know whose auction it was. But then Yoongi heard last minute that it was Jongin's, and he was all like 'yeah we gotta go just to piss him off, it'll be real funny' and so we came. And then I don't think we were even going to buy you, but I guess it was just something about you that made him feel like he had to buy you. So here we are, going back home to clean the house, with a new friend in the car!"

Beomgyu was very distracting. I hadn't even realized I was sitting in the car, right in the lap of the noiret who'd stopped Jongin from hitting Yoongi.

"Wait, how did I-"

"Oh, see you're new and usually I sit in Kai's lap, or Soobin's or Taehyun's, but never Yoongi's cause he's driving and I shouldn't bother him while he's driving, but since you're new I thought I might as well let you have Kai's lap this time," Beomgyu said. I looked up at the man with his arms around my waist.

"So, you're Kai," I asked. He nodded.

"Yeah, I'm Kai. Why are you so damn heavy, kid," he asked gruffly. I blushed, which I figured just made my skin look even brighter silver since my blood wasn't red.

"Transmutation. I'm a lot of metal now. My hair, my nails, my blood and bones, and my scales when I'm a wyvern. That's why my eyes are silver, cause my blood is," I said quietly.

"Hey, don't mind him, he's just kind of really rude," Beomgyu said. I glanced at him and nodded. "Oh, right, his name is Yeonjun guys! Y'know, you'll get to meet Lu tomorrow. He's like Soobin's boyfriend." The brunet turned around to look at us from the other front seat.

"We aren't dating," the brunet hybrid said. One of his ears flicked, and I noticed that there was a patch of grey on it.

"Soobin doesn't have a whole lot of emotions-"

 _"Beomgyu, we've gone over this. He's got them, they just aren't strong,"_ a voice interrupted, kind of just sounding in my head.

"That's Taehyun, he can't make any noise unless he's like hurt or moving so he's got this thing that he uses to talk with his mind, and it's really cool and pretty, and anyways Soobin thinks he doesn't like Lu since he can't feel well, but we all know he likes him. He just doesn't know what it feels like very well since he doesn't feel it often," Beomgyu said.

"Oh, uhm okay," I said.

"Yeah, and Lu's this deer hybrid and he's got really cool antlers, and-"

"Calm down, Beomgyu. You're overwhelming him," Yoongi said from behind the steering wheel.

"Oh, am I? I'm sorry, I didn't mean to! I just get really excited and I end up talking a lot sometimes, and-"

"Beomgyu."

"Right, yes. Calm," the little blond said.

The hybrid in the front turned up the radio and everyone started singing.

_Young and free, ya-ya young and free~_

It was a very upbeat song, and it was a lot of fun to listen to. I jammed out to the music that played on the radio with them, though not nearly as much as they did. Halfway through some song with a lot of words I didn't understand, Kai huffed.

"I'm sorry, but can someone else take a turn? I swear I've got bruises on my legs," he exclaimed. I winced and turned a little to look at him.

"I'm sorry I'm so heavy," I said. He glanced at me and looked away.

 _"It's okay, I can take him,"_ said the voice in my head. Wait no, that was just the one who couldn't talk. He pulled me into his lap sideways and locked his arms around my waist. _"What are you talking about Kai? He weighs nothing compared to some of the kids I've picked up."_ The mute hybrid turned his attention to me. His large eyes were a warm brown, and they seemed to hold a lot in them.

 _"I'm Taehyun. Beomgyu said your name is Yeonjun,"_ he asked. I nodded. _"What are you? And how old are you?"_

"I'm a wyvern. It's like a dragon, but with only two legs and not as big. A Western dragon, like a Western dragon. I'm a little less than a century old, so I don't know why I look like a five year old," I said, pouting just a little.

 _"Mm, it's because you haven't been cursed for very long. You'll grow pretty quickly for a few years, and you should be done in maybe four or five years. Might be a little less than that,"_ the noiret said.

"Oh, really? I didn't know that," I said. The mute nodded and I scratched my arm absently. And a piece of loose skin came off. "Oh, right. Yeah so, since I'm a wyvern I shed. Kinda like snakes and lizards. Apparently in this form it's just skin flaking off, but it's gonna be really annoying and gross when I do it as a wyvern. I mean, cause my scales are silver and stuff, it's just gonna be like a layer of silver coming off my body, and it rips and sounds really terrible, and-"

"Hey, calm down. It's fine," Yoongi said.

"But I'm a pretty big wyvern, and I don't know if you've got space for that, and it'd probably be better if you didn't watch," I said. Yoongi stopped the car at a red light and looked back at me.

"How big are you," he asked. I gulped.

"Uhm, well the cage Jongin had for me was uhm, it wasn't a small one and-"

"Yeonjun. I need to know."

"It was like room sized. And I'm still growing," I replied quickly. He stared at me for a moment.

"You're serious. Shit, you're right. We don't have room for a growing wyvern, god why do I love pissing him off so much," Yoongi muttered.

"I'm sorry, I-"

"Stop apologizing for stuff you can't control. We'll figure something out."


	3. by your side

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> He didn't plan on running off at first, but he really couldn't handle being around them right then.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> He gon shed and it ain't gon be pretty

We decided that for now, it'd be best for me to stay in my human form, because even though it wasn't going to be pleasant to see me peeling pieces of skin off my body, there just wasn't enough space for my wyvern form. The house was old and though it was sturdy, it definitely wasn't sturdy enough to hold the weight of a largely metal wyvern.

They gave me a pair of Beomgyu's black basketball shorts and a white jersey, though I didn't put on the jersey because it restricted my wings too much. I'd met the ghosts, who were very nice. Apparently they'd only recently become visible to everyone, by way of a ward Soobin put around the house. The other witch and the deer hybrid were coming today, and everyone was very excited. Even Soobin seemed to be higher energy than he'd been yesterday. Beomgyu though, he was practically bouncing off the walls.

I'd been napping when they arrived. One of the ghosts came into my room, just walked right through the wall, and knocked a book into the bed. I sat up with a start and blinked at the ghost, absently scratching at my arm. The ghost stared, and I was reminded that I was shedding at the sudden feeling of ants crawling all over me.

"Oh, right. Hmm, you think they'll mind," I asked the ghost. It was the mouse hybrid.

"Well, I mean they might, but I'm sure they won't say anything even if they do mind. They're downstairs in the sitting room," the ghost told me. I nodded and yawned, opening my door and walking out with the ghost following me.

They were all chatting happily, Soobin next to a brunet with horns and deer ears on his head. I assumed that was Lu, and I nearly laughed when I saw what Soobin was doing. The other hybrid was practically in his lap, Soobin's arms wrapped around him. He might not believe it, but he was at the least possessive of his not-boyfriend. Taehyun pulled me down into his lap when he saw me.

"Ah, right. This is the new hybrid, Yeonjun. He's a transmuted wyvern," Yoongi said. Yoongi turned to me. "The one with black hair is Zhang Yixing, and Lu is his deer hybrid." I waved at the witch and the hybrid. Yoongi was next to us, with the other witch at his side. Beomgyu had taken a seat on Kai's lap on our other side, and Soobin sat on the floor with Lu. Kai's ghosts sat on the floor by Soobin and Lu, talking to the two hybrids.

"Hi, Yixing. I only got here yesterday, so I still don't know a whole lot about… well, anyone, really," I said. Taehyun started running his fingers through my hair, which felt really nice.

"That's fine, Lu and I still don't really know a lot about any of the other hybrids either. It was just Yoongi for a while; he moved in here like a year ago, and that's when he first met Taehyun," Yixing said. I nodded in understanding, and suddenly Yixing got this contemplative look on his face. He turned to Yoongi.

"How did you manage to get five hybrids in such a short amount of time," he asked the witch next to him. Yoongi shrugged.

"It just kinda happened. Taehyun came with the house, and Beomgyu…" he glanced at the blond hybrid, relaxing when he saw that he was sleeping. "Well, Beomgyu's other witches were killed while I was taking care of him. And then Soobin, we found walking on broken glass in the parking lot of the grocery store. He wasn't even trying to hide what he was. Kai wandered the city with his ghosts for about two and a half months before he got kidnapped. We had to go save him. Yeonjun was being auctioned by Jongin." Here, Yoongi smiled and laughed a little. "Jongin tried to punch me, but Kai stopped him. Just grabbed his hand like it was nothing. You should've seen the look on Jongin's face." Kai laughed, at the memory of yesterday I assumed.

"He was so surprised. I enjoyed the experience thoroughly," Kai said. Yixing looked at the scar over his eye.

"How'd you get that," the noiret asked the hybrid. Kai stroked Beomgyu's hair a few times before answering.

"Before I came to Daegu, I was caged up by a witch. She was awful. And before I was cursed, I was an alley cat in Seoul. I was like the king, and the king gets into a lot of fights. The cat who scratched me up got off far worse," Kai said. Yixing hummed.

"You know, I'm really good at healing. I could fix your eye up for you," he offered. Kai shook his head.

"That's kind, but no thanks. This has been with me almost my entire life, and besides that, it's a memory. I rather like it," Kai said, a small smile on his lips.

"What about you, Yeonjun? Anything you want me to heal," Yixing asked. I shook my head. "No scars?" He sounded shocked. I shook my head.

"That's not it. I've got scars, plenty of them. But, like Kai said, they're memories. And though they aren't from the best times of my life, they prove what I've gone through," I told him. His gaze flitted over me, from my silver hair to my skin, which looked to be dusted with a layer of silver dust underneath, to my silver fingernails and all the parts from my other form.

"What have you gone through," he asked. I bit my lip. "If you're okay with sharing it, that is." I leaned back into Taehyun. He moved his lips by my ear, and I heard his voice in my head. It almost sounded like he had really talked out loud.

 _"If you aren't comfortable with it, don't worry about saying anything. I can handle it for you,"_ Taehyun said. I smiled a little, grateful he wanted to take care of me like that. _"Also, is this from your shedding thing?"_ He fiddled with a piece of skin peeling. I nodded. _"I can handle that too, if you'd like. I've taken care of a lot of kids, it won't bug me."_

"Hmm, that's okay then, I suppose. Just, try to be gentle? It can hurt sometimes," I said to Taehyun. He nodded and glanced around the room, trying to find someone unoccupied. His gaze landed on Joonho, just sitting a bit behind the other ghosts and watching.

 _"Yeonjun, can you ask Joonho to get the trashcan? I can't talk into the ghosts' minds,"_ Taehyung said.

"Joonho, can you get the trashcan? Taehyun needs it for something," I asked, trying to be polite. The red-haired ghost stood up, and a trashcan came floating through a few moments later. He stood up out of it with a smile and a slight bow once it rested in front of us. Taehyun started gently peeling little pieces of skin from my arm and threw them in the trashcan as he went.

"Hmm, I'm nearly a century old. Which is actually young for a wyvern, but not that young. It's kind of like a teenager is for humans? I think that's close. Y'know, there're a lot of things that can go wrong with curses like mine. For example, the transmutation can petrify muscle, which is why that's the only thing that I know witches try to avoid transmuting. Well, unless they're just massively cruel. Sometimes, the witch doesn't have enough power to affect everything, for example only half of the scales turn into metal. That unbalances whatever got cursed, makes moving really hard and awkward. And the worst thing that can happen with the curse of transmutation," I said quietly. I stopped talking for a few moments.

"The worst thing that can happen is forgetting that you have to double curse whatever your target is. Transmutation goes hand in hand with a curse called 'featherlight'. Metal weighs a lot, and if it isn't made lighter… even flesh isn't strong enough to support that much metal. Scales tear from flesh, metallic blood seeps through muscles and out of the body, skulls crack and bones tear their way out of the body as they fall. There's a reason any sentient creature with scales, horns, anything of the like, we try to avoid Kim Jongin for a reason. We call him the dark witch, because he smells of death. It's kind of a superstition of ours, that he works with some dark force. I'm not sure whether it's something true or made up, but we believe it well enough," I said. The image of a dragonnet flashed before my eyes, the beautiful gold tearing from it's skin all over again. A tear rolled down my cheek.

"I'm sorry. Yoongi, you said there was a forest somewhere around here didn't you," I asked, wiping my eyes. He nodded.

"It should be in the direction of the sun right now. Why," he asked. I stood up, gently pushing Taehyun's hands away.

"I just think that it'll be easier to shed like I usually do. I'll be back in… in a few days, probably. Lu, I'm sorry we didn't get to talk much," I said, bowing slightly to the cervid hybrid. He waved it off and gave me a smile. I walked to the door that led outside, to the backyard, and I shifted much faster than I had in awhile. I flew in the direction of the sun, ignoring the creak of loose metal on metal. I must have hurt something changing so fast, because my landing was less than graceful. I took a few moments to just sit there and try to let the memory fade from my mind. When it didn't work, I huffed angrily.

I took my anger out on the loose skin covering my body. Shedding was always hard, especially when I only had two legs to stand on. I rubbed my head on some trees, effectively shredding them into tiny little wood chips. I need something like my cave, with a lot of hard rock. However, I was too uncomfortable to find somewhere else right now, so I just tried my best with what I had. Once I finally got the loose skin around my horns (always hard, and never ever pleasant), I used my teeth to pull it away from my body. The skin screeched horribly as it ripped, and I winced.

The entire process took a few days longer than I expected, and then of course I had to pull the very loose skin off my human form as well. It was hard to get it out of my hair, and I took quite a few baths in the cold river that ran through the forest. I had to change back into my wyvern form after each bath and let a silver-tipped fire rumble deep in my chest, warming just enough that I wouldn't get sick, but not so much that the silver and steel would melt. I ate a few rabbits and a bear, too put off by the deer to eat them; they reminded me of sweet little Lu too much.

I swear I meant to go back when I was unhindered by loose skin in both forms, but it was just so nice to be back in nature. It was great, in fact, to wake up to the chirping of birds and the rustling of leaves on branches as cold winds blew through the December air. It was cold, even colder when the metal of my scales soaked up the bitter cold essence of the month, but this was nothing a nice fire couldn't fix. So I lay curled up in the clearing I'd first found, a fire rolling deep inside of me. I fell asleep without meaning to.


	4. when you get yourself in trouble

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> He wasn't supposed to be this weak. He was a cousin to dragons, but a single memory was crumbling him as easily as if he were an autumn leaf.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Dis one sad and short. Italics doesn't in this case mean strictly Taehyun. It's just any of them speaking cause he's not focused on them

There was a quiet wail, somewhere in the background. I couldn't find the source, but it was so familiar to me. It was building slowly, so slowly as I twisted and turned in the near blackness. I ran forward when I thought I'd caught the direction it was coming from, but it only seemed to get quieter. I stopped, and twisted around again, and then it was ringing in my ears like a broken bell in a church tower. I covered my ears with human hands and choked off a sob. It was painful to hear.

I had my eyes squeezed shut as the wail, now a scream, continued to get louder and more piercing, until I finally reopened my eyes. And then I remembered where I knew that pitiful wail from, as I stared at the slow-motion image of a precious dragonnet, barely a year old, being shredded apart by the red-gold scales that were too heavy for its body. I screamed myself, in horror and shock and _pain._ I felt those scales ripping through my skin like it had been my experience, felt the blood pouring over my body and I sobbed and screamed my throat raw.

I thought it would never end as I lay curled up on the ground, hands over my ears once again. There was a reason that scream was so horrible; though that dragonnet had only been cursed for minutes when it was pulled apart, it had already started to feel human things. There had been the slightest tinge of humanity in that agonized scream.

_…jun…_

_Yeonjun…_

I blinked, uncovering my ears but staying curled up on the ground as I kept crying. My throat could no longer support screaming, so I just let the heavy sobs wreak havoc in my ribcage.

_Yeonjun, where are you?! Talk to us, keep making noise!_

So I did, I tried to cry louder. I let out everything I'd been holding back for the past year; the traumatizing image of that dragonnet, the mourning of my natural scales, the constant fear that the curse would wear off and I'd be ripped apart, all the pain I'd felt in Jongin's care. I used all the feeling, let all the memories run through my mind, let everything well up in loud, broken sobs.

_Guys, he's over here! Over here, in the clearing!_

And still I cried, even as I was pulled into a warm body and held carefully, even as I was cradled in the gentle embrace and rocked back and forth. It reminded me of my oldest memories, those of my mother and father cuddling up with me in the sunlight and the special rock that only babies got to lay on, the rock that was loose enough to move around and lull even the fussiest dragonnets into the most peaceful slumber.

A hand ran through my hair, going around the heavy metal horns. The light touches helped to calm me down, helped to send me into a dreamless sleep.

_Will he be okay?_

I wondered what the answer would be. I was wondering about it myself.

_He's been through a lot. It'll take time._


	5. from the soft side to the tough stuff

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> He woke up, feeling more comfortable than he'd ever thought would be possible unless he was sleeping as a wyvern.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one is longer and he behaves more like a child, yay opening up!!

I woke up in a soft bed, with my arm in a sling of some sort. I was curled up on my side, and my face was pressed into something warm and hard. I opened my eyes, and it was a body. I blinked my eyes, still feeling very sleepy, and I saw Taehyun. He was asleep, still covered in his gifts. They were everywhere, in both sets of ears and all over his fingers and arms. He was still wearing the wide assortment of necklaces, and I thought it was a wonder they didn't get tangled. And then there was the collar too, white lace on black, very old and weak-looking. As I looked at him, at his long lashes on his pale skin, I thought that he didn't look very comfortable to sleep with. He was so tall, almost lanky, and with all the stuff he wore, you'd think that everything would get in the way.

But I was comfortable. His long arms were wrapped around me, right under my wings, and it was very warm. Warmth was very nice, and I was in real danger of falling back asleep. I blinked my eyes, so slowly I almost thought I really had fallen back asleep. When my eyes were open again, Taehyun was waking up. He blinked sleepily and yawned, making no noise even though his mouth opened. He pulled his arms away and sat up, stretching and rubbing his eyes. He stood up and I just laid there, missing the warmth. He turned around and looked at me, holding a hand out. I took it after a few moments and let him help me sit up. My arm, the one in the sling, was a little sore. I rubbed it stared at Taehyun and his messy bed hair.

 _"How are you feeling,"_ Taehyun whispered gently, crouching down in front of me so we were on the same level. He kept my hand in his.

"My arm's sore, but otherwise, I think… I think I'm okay," I replied softly, into the warm, still air of the bedroom. He smiled.

 _"That's good. That's really good, I'm glad. There should be breakfast downstairs by now. Soobin likes to cook when I'm not already doing it,"_ Taehyun told me, voice still just as soft. I nodded and stood up, stretching like Taehyun had, minus the one arm. I let him lead me to the kitchen, let him keep his hand in mine. Everyone was sitting around the table, eating the waffles Soobin kept making. Yixing and Lu were still here. The stairs creaked under my weight, and I blushed as everyone looked at us.

"Oh, how's your arm? I tried to heal it, but it was something with your bones and… those aren't exactly organic, so I couldn't do anything," Yixing said sheepishly.

"It's not bad, I think I just shifted too fast. They probably scraped against each other wrong," I said, sitting down in a chair next to Beomgyu and Taehyun. Yixing looked at me quizzically.

"Shifted too fast? That's a thing," he muttered under his breath. I nodded.

"I mean, yeah. It's probably not a common thing, since most hybrids aren't forced to get used to shifting really slowly, but it's a thing with me, at least," I explained, taking a big bite of the waffle afterwards.

"Yixing, it happens with me too, remember? How sometimes I shift too fast and get all bruised up," Lu said, taking small bites of the waffle. Yixing sighed.

"Yeah, but you get bruised pretty much every time you shift anyways," the witch said.

"I mean, fair point, but it's worse when I go too fast," the hybrid argued back. Yixing sighed again and shook his head, going back to eating his waffles. Everything was silent for the most part after that, since everyone was focusing almost exclusively on waffles.

"Hey, Taehyun," Kai suddenly called out. I glanced up at him. He'd finished his waffles and was now cross-armed in his chair.

 _"Good morning to you too, Kai. I take it you enjoyed Soobin's waffles,"_ Taehyun said without looking up. That was one of the coolest parts about being Taehyun; he could eat and talk at the same time.

"Yeah, they're okay. I think they've knocked out Lu though, he seems to be _really_ enjoying them. Not what I called you for though," the other tall hybrid said.

"Hey, Soobin's waffles are great. They're not just okay, you take that back," Lu said indignantly. Soobin smiled faintly, and Kai ignored him.

 _"Well, are you going to tell me or are you going to make me guess,"_ Taehyun asked, shoving another forkful of waffle into his mouth.

"How are you so good with kids," Kai asked. I frowned.

"I'm not a kid, I'm-"

"Yeah, nearly a hundred years old. However, you happen to be a baby hybrid, and therefore your previous age doesn't matter. You are effectively five years old right now, unless you'd rather we refer to you as a year old instead," Kai deadpanned, and I huffed but stopped talking in favor of eating waffles.

 _"Kai, I lived with one continuous family of witches for centuries. I've known more people than I can count, and I've taken care of nearly as many people. I have a considerable amount of experience caring for people in general, and I just happen to like kids more than most,"_ the mute hybrid answered.

"Right, right. I forget about all that, sometimes," Kai said.

 _"Understandable. Where're your ghosts,"_ Taehyun asked, simply because they were usually at the table with us in the morning. Kai was silent for a few moments, and I chanced a look up. His face had fallen, and he looked sad. He uncrossed his arms and clasped his hands on the table in front of him.

"Hands off the table, Kai," Yoongi reprimanded without looking up from his plate of waffles. Kai scowled but did what the witch said anyways, which was very strange indeed. It made Yoongi look up at him when he saw that the hybrid had done what he asked. The witch was frowning. "Hey, are you okay?"

"They… they moved on last night. While everyone was sleeping. They wrote a letter at some point, thanking me for helping them move on. They said they'd miss me; well, to be fair, they said they'd miss everyone, but… they left," Kai said softly. This was the most demure I'd seen him, and though I hadn't known him long, I just knew that this wasn't the way he usually was. Everyone was silent for a few moments.

"Guys, Yixing and I have been discussing this all night, but… I want your opinions first, okay," Yoongi said after the long silence. We all gave him affirmative answers in some manner, whether it was verbal or physical. "So, I think we should probably move. I mean I know this city is pretty open to hybrids and such, but a wyvern might be too much. Yeonjun needs more space, we all saw how big he was. And, Yixing says he knows someone who could unbind you from the house, Taehyun, although it might take a few months. We can use that time to figure out where to move, what kind of things we'll need around the house and stuff. But, it'll have to be a big house, and… we've been spending a lot of money recently. We don't have a lot of it."

"Yoongi, I already told you-"

"And I already declined. You're a friend, I'm not taking money from you," Yoongi said, cutting the other witch off.

 _"Yoongi, you know all you have to do is ask. I've told you before,"_ Taehyun said. Yoongi looked pained.

"I know you have, but all that stuff is important to you, this _house_ is important to you. I can't just ask you to sell your gifts so easily," Yoongi said. And Taehyun cracked a smile.

 _"Yoongi, as I mentioned earlier, I've been living here for centuries. Yes, I love this house, but… sometimes, things grow old. This house has grown old, and I have more gifts than I can wear. I don't even remember where most of them came from. I've been holding onto my old memories for so long. I've been clinging to the past. And I think, I think yesterday made me realize in some way that I'm ready to move on. I'm ready to let go. So just ask me, Yoongi. That's all you ever have to do,"_ Taehyun told the witch. Yoongi bit his lip.

"Taehyun, are you okay with selling the house once we get it separated from you? And, would you be okay with…selling some of your gifts," the witch asked, his voice cautious and nervous. Taehyun's laugh resounded through our heads.

 _"Of course! Let's see, breakfast is finished, so…how about the two witches come with me? You guys probably know better how much my stuff is worth,"_ Taehyun said merrily. As I helped Soobin with the dishes, I wondered what Taehyun's voice would sound like outside my head. Would it be the same? Would he speak the same way? Would his voice have sounded as gentle and caring this morning?

And what would he sound like as a cat? Beomgyu made little cat noises, so I assumed the other two who could talk also did so. But Taehyun just projected human words in either form or stayed silent. How long had it been since Taehyun last meowed? Did he even remember what it felt like to meow, and did he still know how his meow sounded?

They were questions I would never really get answers to, so I pushed them away and told Soobin to go play with Lu, finishing the dishes on my own.


	6. I learned my lesson

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It wasn't that he meant to break the rules. Sure, he knew he was, kind of, but it was so much easier to talk and eat in the living room, where Soobin was.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Has anyone noticed that Taehyun and Yeonjun/some others refer to the living room differently? One of the ways I think I've successfully shown the time difference between them.

The next day, Yoongi put Soobin in charge of making a kind of wish list, consisting of things we'd need in the new house. That was because he was the only one who'd ever learned to read and write. He woke up first thing in the morning and started his list while Yixing and Yoongi went to sell the large chest of Taehyun's gifts. He talked to me first, since I was the first one awake after him.

"Yeonjun, good morning! There're some eggs and bacon in the kitchen, Lu's been cooking while I worked on the list," Soobin said. I nodded tiredly and trudged into the kitchen, taking a plate of food from the cervid hybrid and eating as I walked back into the living room. I knew I was safe to eat in here at least until Taehyun woke up; I had a feeling that man would not appreciate me eating on the couch. I chewed on my food for a few seconds before covering my mouth and talking to Soobin.

"Whatcha got so far," I asked him. He raised an eyebrow at me, but read his list to me nonetheless.

"Well, obviously I've got 6 rooms plus two or three guest rooms. I mean, Beomgyu never really uses his own room but like, just in case, y'know? A room for potion making, one for my wards, I figured with as much stuff as we do I might as well add on a supplies room, and I also put a suggestion for a weapons room. Since I'm pretty sure I can make wards out of weapons if I forge them myself, y'know, and I've been wanting to try that. So that means I need to add a forge, let me just…" he trailed off, writing slowly. He could write, but it wasn't very fast.

"What else can you think of," he said, looking up at me with a small smile when he'd finished writing.

"Mine's more environmental. We need to be within maybe… 10 or 20 miles of a place with a lot of hard rock. Like, really hard rock, so I won't shred any trees when I've got to shed. And it should either be in a place with a lot of wildlife, or a place where we can have like sheep or cows," I said after a moment of consideration. He looked very puzzled as he wrote it out. "When I'm a wyvern, that's what I eat. Wildlife."

"So, when you had to shed a couple weeks ago…"

"I just ate rabbits and a bear I found in the woods. There were deer as well, those are what I usually eat, but… it was kind of weird to think about eating them after I met Lu, so I avoided them," I said. Soobin nodded, looking both faintly relieved and grossed out.

"Anything else you can think of," Soobin asked. I hummed and looked at the ceiling as I considered it.

"Maybe we can find a rocky place with veins of metal in it. I could dig it out for you or something," I suggested. He shook his head.

"You don't need to do that. I make enough money off my wards and ward amulets that I can just buy whatever metal I need. Oh, I had a question. Is the skin you shed metal," he asked. I nodded.

"Yea, it's like really thin silver. Sounds terrible when I rip it," I told him.

"Would you be okay with like, letting me have your shed skin next time? I could melt it down and use it in something," he said. I stared at him for a moment.

"I mean, I guess you could. It's not like it's going to do any good just laying around, I'm not sure it'd even deteriorate or anything…" I trailed off, staring at the floor as I thought. It wasn't something I'd ever considered before. Taehyun walked in just then, staring blankly at my plate of cold breakfast.

 _"Yeonjun, why have you got a plate of food in the sitting room,"_ he asked. I looked up at him in shock, glancing at my plate guiltily.

"Uh, I- Soobin was- It was just- I was just, Soobin and I were talking about the list and I wasn't going to- I wasn't supposed to be here when you woke up," I stuttered. I panicked when I saw the angry look on his face. "W-wait, that sounds bad-"

 _"Yes, yes it does. It sounds very much like you were planning on hiding the fact that you ate in here from me. There's a dining table for a reason, and that reason is for you to eat on it, Yeonjun. Finish your food at the table and wait for me,"_ the older hybrid said. I gulped and stood up, taking my plate with me and sitting at the table. I was almost too nervous to finish the cold food. I fidgeted with my fingers as I waited for the angry hybrid to join me at the table.

He pulled back a chair and sat in it, elegant and graceful as always. When I glanced at him, his eyebrows were drawn together in anger or disappointment, or maybe both, and his eyes were looking right into mine. It felt like they were piercing right into my soul, and I swallowed heavily and focused my attention back on the table.

 _"Yeonjun, look at me,"_ Taehyun demanded. I looked back up at him, and his face hadn't changed except for the fact that he was now frowning as well. _"I understand that we haven't had much of a chance to go over rules, and I understand that Jongin most likely didn't teach you human etiquette. But from what you said, you clearly understood that you weren't supposed to eat in the sitting room, or at least that I wouldn't be pleased by it. You understood that and did it anyways, with the explicit intention of hiding it from me. That's what the issue here is. Do you understand why I'm angry with you?"_ I bit my lip and nodded, looking away from him. _"Hey, keep your eyes on me."_

"I'm sorry, it was wrong of me to do that and I was in the wrong for intending to hide it from you," I said quietly. His eyes softened just a touch.

 _"Are you going to do it again,"_ he asked sternly. I shook my head.

"I promise I'll eat at the dining table from now on," I told him. He smiled.

 _"Good. You're still in trouble though. You're washing all the dishes for a week, and you don't get any dessert in that time either,"_ he told me. My face dropped and I stared at him in horror. His laugh rang daintily through my head as he stared at my face. I pouted and stared at my plate for a few moments before taking the plate over to the sink. At some point, everyone else had woken up and eaten breakfast. There was a big pile of dishes, and I sighed. I was not excited about this punishment.


	7. come to me

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> He was trying, but he just hated hurting people.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I drew diagrams to figure out the seating arrangement. 
> 
> Seating arrangements are a bitch.

Yoongi and Yixing came back with an empty chest and a giant bundle of cash. It was only then that I realized how little jewelry Taehyun was wearing. He'd been reduced to a single, silver chain necklace with a teardrop diamond, three rings made of silver, gold, and horn, and a set of gold and ruby earrings in his cat ears. And, of course, the old black collar with the white lace and the braided metal bracelet that allowed him to speak with his mind. Yoongi glanced over the list and showed it to Yixing, wandering into the kitchen and just standing there for a few moments, just watching me wash the dishes.

"Taehyun, don't you and Soobin usually do the dishes? How come Yeonjun's doing them alone," the witch asked over his shoulder. Soobin was the one that answered him.

"He tried to eat in the sitting room, and then when Taehyun caught him he let it slip that he'd been meaning to hide it. He has to wash dishes for a week and he can't have any dessert until the week is up," the tall hybrid called back. Yoongi made a little _ah_ sound and walked out of the kitchen, letting me finish my punishment in silence.

My fingers were all wrinkly when I finished, and it was so very weird to see. I looked at my fingernails after I dried off my hands, walking into the living room as I considered whether I was prepared to deal with the hassle of filing them short again. I decided I wasn't yet and looked up, wondering where I was going to sit as I took in the 7 other men sitting in various spots. Beomgyu was in Taehyun's lap on the rocking chair, and for the first time I saw Lu in his witch's lap as opposed to Soobin's. Soobin was on the floor in front of Yixing and Lu, smiling faintly as Lu ran soft hands through his hair. That left Kai and Yoongi on the other two couch cushions. I just stood a few feet away from the couch awkwardly for a few seconds, wondering what exactly I was supposed to do at this point.

And then, surprisingly, Kai beckoned me over and let me sit in his lap. I chewed on my lip for half a second before turning and looking at him inquisitively.

"I thought I was heavy, though," I said quietly. It was half a question and half a statement. Kai nodded.

"You are, but we aren't going to be sitting here for very long, so I'll just deal with it," he said.

"Oh," I said, very quiet, feeling bad that I was probably hurting him. I turned back around, careful to keep from hitting him with my wings or tail, trying to keep him from seeing my frown. I didn't like hurting people.

"So, Yoongi, I was looking over that list and I think I know a place that could work. It's over in China on the outskirts of a city much like this one, open to magical presence, but it's close to an abandoned quarry, and I think there are even some other dracons there that Yeonjun could hang out with whenever he goes to shed. The house is huge, almost a mansion, and there's definitely enough room for all of you and a livestock farm; if you're nice to the neighbors. They're pretty far off though. You could make money off products from the livestock in between the times Yeonjun is shedding. The soil is really good, and there's a greenhouse on the property, so you guys could start farming herbs and stuff for potions. I can call the agency and have them reserve it for you while you work on saving up more money and breaking the bond between Taehyun and the house. What do you think," Yixing said. Yoongi hummed and looked to us.

"How about you guys? How's it sound," Yoongi asked us.

"It sounds nice," I said quietly. The others said similar things, and that they'd like to look at it, at the very least. Yixing pulled out his phone and walked away, saying he was going to call his friend about separating Taehyun and the house. Everyone dispersed, Soobin and Lu going to his room on the excuse of making wards (and watching Soobin make them), while Taehyun kept rocking in his chair with Beomgyu asleep on his lap. Kai didn't make any move to get up, and I glanced at him nervously.

"Do you want me to-"

"You're fine. I don't have anything else to do, so you can just stay there," Kai said, interrupting me in the middle of asking if I should get up. I turned sideways and looked at him, my confusion very clear on my face.

"But you said I'm heavy, and sitting on your lap must be hurting you, right? If I'm hurting you, then I don't want to sit on your lap," I told him, frowning deeply. Kai sighed.

"Why is your face so damn sad all the time," he muttered under his breath as he looked at me. I moved to get up, but he put his arms around my waist and kept me in place. "It doesn't bother me. I've dealt with worse pain, this is nothing." I huffed.

"Just cause you've felt worse doesn't make it hurt any less. I know that. I've felt a lot worse than a strained shoulder and it still hurts. I still don't like it, even though I've been through so much more than just that. Don't use that excuse, Kai, because it won't work on me. You said you've dealt with worse, which means that me sitting on your lap is hurting you, so I'm getting up. Let me go," I demanded. A thought briefly lingered in my mind as I thought it, that it must look ridiculous to anyone else; a boy who barely looks five, demanding the 6 foot noiret to let him go because the kid is hurting him. But no one else would have understood the reasoning behind the demand, which would naturally make the scene seem very unrealistic.

Kai relented and let me up, and I walked into the backyard and changed into my wyvern form, very slowly, so that I wouldn't hurt my arm anymore. I curled up on the grass and let a fire rumble in my chest, grumbling a little at Taehyun and Beomgyu when they walked out and sat next to me, leaning against my warm chest and soaking some of it in.

 _"The longer you're with us, the more child-like you are. You don't see it, but it's there,"_ Taehyun said. I huffed, careful to keep all my fire inside my body. I didn't want to catch anything on fire.

 _They're easy to relax around,_ I thought to myself.


	8. I'm the one you can't keep your paws off

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yoongi's friends were really confusing.

When I woke up the next morning, I was in my human form, asleep in my bed. I thought the arms wrapped around me were Taehyun at first, but when I looked back over my shoulder I saw that it was Kai. And that was confusing, because hadn't I been hurting him? Wasn't he mad at me? Or was I remembering wrong?

He grumbled in his sleep and tightened his arms around me. When I tried to carefully pry his arms off me so I could get up, he huffed and opened his eyes. Was he pouting?

"Why couldn't you just go back to sleep, kid? I wanted to sleep more, aish," he groaned, sitting up and stretching. He rubbed at his eyes, and his hair was a mess. This was the least intimidating I'd ever seen him look, no doubt. I giggled at the mental comparison between day-grumpy and barely-awake-grumpy. He raised an eyebrow at me but didn't comment on my laugh, instead standing from the bed and ruffling up my hair before leaving the room. He stopped by my door and yawned, looking back at me afterwards.

"You should probably take a shower. Yixing's friends are coming over, and Yoongi and Taehyun both insisted I make sure you were at least clean and wearing fresh clothing when they arrived," the taller hybrid said. I nodded and climbed out of the bed, wincing at the audible groaning of the frame.

My shower was quick and very hot, as it always was. I'd perfected quick showers under Jongin's care, under his insistence I don't take any more time than absolutely necessary. I'd learned a few tricks to make it go faster, and I was out in 15 minutes. Forgetting that people were going to be coming over, I pulled on boxers and grey sweatpants with a black tank top and hoodie. I put the hood up and walked down the stairs as lightly as I could. Every creak still made me wince, and I hated the constant fear that I was going to break the ancient boards.

When I sat down in the dining room, I was greeted almost immediately by a plate of thick waffles. It didn't register that I didn't know the dark-haired man in the pink apron until I was pouring powdered sugar over the butter-flavored syrup drenching my waffles. I tensed and looked up, seeing yet another stranger, this one with white-blond hair and dark green eyes. He was staring at me, and he smiled as I looked at him. He seemed to be normal until I saw a lion's tail peek over the edge of the table. So he was a hybrid, but where were his ears?

 _"Yeonjun, staring isn't polite. If you're going to just look at him, you might as well say hi,"_ Taehyun scolded me mentally. I shoved a big bite of waffle into my mouth so I could avoid talking and dropped my gaze to my plate. I heard giggles, and I looked up again, at the strange hybrid across from me. I swallowed some of my waffle and put more in my mouth, and a high-pitched laugh joined the giggles. That was the man, a witch I realized when I smelled the taint of it on him, cooking the waffles. I wondered what they were laughing at.

 _"Yeonjun, you aren't supposed to eat that much at once. You'll choke yourself, it's impolite, and you look like an overgrown chipmunk,"_ Taehyun said, scolding me again. I groaned and swallowed my waffles until my mouth was empty.

"I still have a whole other waffle to finish, Taehyun, can't I just eat this one in peace without being scolded," I whined. More laughs broke out and I pouted. This wasn't fair! I was just trying to eat my waffles, and they were laughing at me. I angrily stuffed the rest of the waffle into my mouth in small, easy bites before setting the dishes by the sink and going to my room to sulk.

Soon enough, as I sat on the bed with my knees pulled up to my chest, there was a knock on the door.

"Who is it," I grumbled. There was a muffled jingling from behind the door as someone bounced up and down. I assumed it was Beomgyu, since Taehyun wasn't really wearing enough to make that much noise. "Come in."

The door opened and closed behind Beomgyu, and he came skipping over. He jumped onto the bed and let himself relax into it for half a second before sitting up and facing me.

"They were treating you like a little kid, weren't they," Beomgyu asked, sounding oddly sympathetic. I huffed and nodded. "They did it to me too, even though I was an adult when I came here. I mean, I'm small and I act like a kid all the time, so it's not that surprising but- it doesn't feel nice to be treated like a kid all the time. I get why you got mad." I chewed on my lip and sighed.

"I was just eating, and yeah it was mostly so I wouldn't have to say anything to those guys, but they just started laughing. I don't mind a lot of things, but there are a few. I don't like hurting people, and I don't like being made fun of. They were making fun of me," I complained quietly. Beomgyu shook his head.

"See, I thought that too at first, both when I lived with them and when I lived with my other two witches. But, eventually, I realized it was just like, a really weird way to express that they think I'm being cute? And that's why they were laughing, cause you were acting all cute without meaning to and it made them happy," Beomgyu said to me. I blinked a few times, thinking about what he said before looking back up at him.

"Why would me acting cute make them happy," I asked. Beomgyu sighed.

"I know you don't want to hear that you're a kid, but you are. They want you to be able to relax and express yourself around them. They wanna take care of you and make sure you're comfortable and safe and happy. That's why we're moving. Not because Taehyun has gotten tired of this place, not because I've got sad memories tied to this house. It's because as long as we live here with you, you won't be able to be completely comfortable; you won't be able to be yourself, and we all want that for you. That's why Taehyun's okay with moving on from his past here, because as important as his past is to him, you are more important. The seven of us- heck, he's practically already adopted Yixing's friends, so the nine of us are more important to him than the dozens of people he knew in this house. Yeonjun, as long as you're with us, we want you to feel free to just be yourself. Don't hold back from us; we can take it," he finished softly, a gentle hand on my cheek. He pulled me into a hug, and suddenly he was bouncing out the door, all smiles and noise and energy again.

Just a few days ago, what felt like forever, Beomgyu's noisy jewelry had been an annoyance, a discordant mess that bothered my ears every time he so much as breathed. But now, it seemed to be a melody, telling the story of a hyper boy who deserved all the good, happy things in the world.


	9. got me acting up all crazy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yoongi's friends were confusing, but interesting. Like, Chanhee really hated coconuts. That was so odd.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to Alexis for Chanhee's curse!!

New -or Chanhee, whatever I preferred was fine because he was used to both- and Changmin weren't that bad once I was actually talking to them. Changmin was very bright, though his laugh was obnoxiously high. You couldn't even avoid making him laugh, because everything New did set him off in one way or another. It wasn't that bad though, not once I got used to it. New was odd, though I supposed that was because he was a sphinx. He felt like he belonged to another world, like he shouldn't have been part of ours. He spoke somewhat oddly, and had a baffling hatred towards coconuts.

New's white hair was long and unruly, and kind of reminded me of a lion's mane; I wondered why he didn't cut it. He drank a lot of fruit juice as well; I wondered about that as well, and finally built up the courage to ask him about it after Changmin had walked off with Taehyun to start breaking the bond between the noiret and the ancient house.

"New, uhm, why do you- how come you drink so much juice? You've had, like, at least a gallon since you've been here, and it's only been a few hours," I said quietly. He smiled gently.

"Long ago, I lived in Egypt. I had the misfortune of being challenged for my treasure by a very tricky witch, and in the end he bound me to him with a contract and cursed me with something called 'Eternal Thirst' or 'Unquenchable'; the curse has different names in different areas. I am extremely thirsty at any given time of the day, so thirsty it pains me. However, it is very painful for me to drink anything; almost like I'm being shredded from the inside out," I winced at that, unable to stop a flash of gold and the empty echo of a wail from pushing to the front of my mind. I shoved the memory back and waited for him to continue. "I apologize. I forgot your age, please forgive me."

"No, it's fine. It just brought up a very unpleasant memory, but it's already been forgotten again. Please, continue," I implored of the exotic hybrid. He nodded and kept speaking in the same soft, slightly bitter tone.

"Fruit juice is the easiest thing for me to drink. It still hurts, of course, but it's not quite so bad as other things can be," he said. I hummed and nodded.

"And, coconuts," I chanced asking, glancing at his face and quickly looking away when I saw how it had immediately darkened at the mere mention of the furry seeds.

" _Fucking coconuts_ , god! I can't even begin to explain those tree nuts from _Hell!_ How anyone can stand to consume any part of those damn things, I'll never understand, I just- To this day, I regret that those fucking palms were the only things that grew food around that oasis! I ate coconuts, and only coconuts for over a _fucking decade_ before Changmin came and challenged me! I vowed to never again eat those furry ass seeds again," New spat out venomously. At some point I'd looked at him, and now I just stared, shocked by the violent outburst. I hadn't expected that, and it almost seemed like he was going to say more. A voice rang down from the floor above us, and my gaze snapped upwards, towards the floorboards almost right above us.

"Chanhee, stop cursing about the coconuts! He's like six years old, tops! He does not need your influence on the subject of either cursing or coconuts! Yeonjun, if you say any of the words he said, just know you'll have at least four of the people in this house on your ass about it," Changmin yelled from upstairs. I stared for a moment, motionless, and then I burst into hysterical giggles. I wasn't entirely sure about the reason, but I was pretty sure that at least part of it was the fact that he'd cursed while yelling at New for cursing around me. New started laughing too, and that really cemented my newfound opinion that the sphinx and his witch really weren't all that bad.


	10. let's play (forever)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yeonjun found that once he let go of his pain, it became much easier to relax and give in to childish urges; like playing outside and wrestling.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi so I just realized that uh yeonjun might be hard to wrestle w seeing as he's metal but ignore that pls

The spell that had bound Taehyun to the house that was first his was a very complicated one, and therefore hard for even Changmin to break; that's what Yoongi said when I asked.

"Changmin told me that the person who first wrote down that spell must have been very close with Taehyun, or they'd been around him for a very long time. He said something about having to cut the old threads between them first, before he can even start to work on the spell itself, and those threads are hard to cut because that person is no longer alive," Yoongi said, sounding incredibly guilty. I hadn't known at first why Taehyun was bound to the house, it was just something that was and in my mind, always had been. I only learned later that Yoongi read something after Taehyun told him not to, albeit indirectly.

So Changmin and New were going to be here for a while. A month at least, and since we had the room -if Changmin and New shared a room while Yixing and Lu did the same- both witches and their hybrids were going to stay with us right up until it was time to move. In the meantime, we needed to save up money to buy that house in China.

So the others did what they had been to earn money. Soobin cranked out wards and amulets at a speed that almost seemed like it should be detrimental to the quality of the objects, but somehow each and every one was perfect. Kai was gone a lot, a ghost hunter for contract, paid by the hour and the ferocity of the spirit; Yixing went with him, since he was pretty good at teleporting himself and others, and to heal him after fighting particularly dangerous ghosts. The first time he and Yixing came home after a call, I was awake; I saw the gaping wound in his stomach through the shredded fabric of his shirt, and I screamed and passed out. I hated that I knew he was taking on the more dangerous jobs from then on, simply because it paid more and that's what was needed right now.

Taehyun, when he was able to work without disturbing Changmin's work, brewed potions. Mostly medicinal, since those were fairly easy and ingredient cheap while also bringing in a decent amount of money, but also other ones he refused to explain to me. Beomgyu tried to convince Yoongi to let him loan his mana to witches, but he was shut down quickly and thoroughly every time he brought it up. So Beomgyu and I were often left to ourselves in the house, along with Lu; though he was usually watching Soobin.

I'm not exactly proud to say that Beomgyu and I played like children for nearly a month straight while everyone else worked and tried to earn money, but that's exactly what we did. We ran around the backyard, since we were banned from playing indoors within days after Changmin and New's arrival, and we tore things up. The grass was trampled into a muddy mess, though we avoided Taehyun's flowers at all costs, and when we came back inside at dusk everyday, we were covered head to toe in dirt and grime and stains. To avoid one of us being forced into a cold shower, we just took a warm one together. It was kind of nice, to be able to get help with washing up; it was not easy to wash my back in the slightest.

It was in that last month that I really grew closer with everyone and let myself be a kid again. I hadn't relaxed like I did those thirty-odd days in decades, and it was like a breath of fresh air. It was unbelievably invigorating to be able to let go of my worries, to let my past traumas slip away into the abyss of all things forgotten, to just play outside with a friend and get completely, overwhelmingly _nasty_ with dirt and dust. And yea, Beomgyu was the only one I saw on a daily basis, but the older hybrids would always make lunches and put them in the fridge, and dinner was done at least every other day while breakfast depended on when we woke up. Sometimes Lu would come out and play with us, though we always made sure not to be so rough with him as we were with each other, or New would come out and just sit in a chair and watch us through half-opened eyes, enough to let us know he was there if we needed him. Yoongi always made sure we came inside, and if the others were busy, sometimes he'd tuck us in; sometimes in my bed, sometimes in Beomgyu's, though by now we rarely slept alone in our own beds. I had a sneaking suspicion that Yixing was healing us at night, because I never woke up sore.

Even Kai made more of an effort, and of course he was still kind of rude about stuff, but that was just how he was. I didn't take anything by most of it, because I knew by now that he didn't mean it; it was really more a side effect of being tired from all the ghost hunting than anything else. On the rare days he didn't get called away -because he told Yoongi he was taking a day off, and there was no chance in hell that he was dealing with anymore ghosts today- he'd come outside and find us, when we'd already been playing outside for hours and had mud-caked feet. He'd rough-house with us, and I really began to understand how he'd once been a King of the alleys; he was strong, and quick, and he always seemed to know what you were going to do before you did it. All the mock-fights between the three of us ended in Kai winning, having the two of us on the ground completely out of breath before he collapsed to the ground between us and threw his long arms out over us. We'd giggle and push him off, and then nap in the evening sun. Beomgyu and I became very tan that strangely warm January.


	11. make a lil room

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It seems to come to an end out of nowhere, and Yeonjun can't help but think he'll miss the old place.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm posting everything cause I'm a slacker and I've been slacking so I guys get a present
> 
> Yoongles wallet is magical wbk

I almost didn't want that month to end. I enjoyed playing with Beomgyu everyday, I enjoyed the inconsistent dinners with everyone and the lunches in the fridge and the easy smiles and laughs.

I knew that there was a reason for that month happening in the first place, a reason Beomgyu and I were able to behave and play like we did. I grew a lot over January, both because hybrids aged faster than real people and because I was actually eating well with Yoongi and the others taking care of me.

On the seventh day of February, Yoongi gathered everyone into the living room. It was easy to forget how many people were in the house at the moment when you didn't see them often, but I was reminded now as I saw the sitting arrangement in the living room; Taehyun and Beomgyu in the rocking chair, Beomgyu in his cat form, Changmin in New's lap on the couch, me and Kai in the middle, Yixing leaning against the arm of the couch next to Lu and Soobin on the last cushion while Yoongi stood where the coffee table used to be. It had been pushed out of the way.

"Everyone, thank you for working so hard this past month. I know it's been stressful for some, and not exactly safe," he said, looking at Yixing and Kai, "but no one gave up. It's been a good month, and we've done a lot of very hard work. Changmin, thank you for breaking the binding I stupidly cast on Taehyun. Yixing, thank you for finding the house, and for taking care of Kai; we all know he's tough, but even the toughest guys need help, right?" Changmin nodded, and Yixing smiled kindly while Kai nodded begrudgingly. "Soobin, thank you for working so tirelessly on the wards and ward amulets, and Lu, thank you for making sure he ate and slept. Taehyun, I'm still sorry I asked you to sell your gifts, but thank you for doing it and for still brewing potions even when Changmin was working on your bond with the house. Kai, you really didn't have to take the more dangerous cases, and I wish you wouldn't have put us before your own safety, but I know why you did it, so thank you. New, thanks for feeding the small ones and watching them, and Beomgyu and Yeonjun, thank you for relaxing and playing, even if you did track mud in everyday."

He paused and dug in his pockets, bringing out a wallet. He opened it and thumbed through the bills, and I was astonished by how many there were; his wallet didn't look like it should be able to hold that much money, didn't even look like it _was_ holding that much money. He looked up again, tears in his eyes.

"We did it. We've got enough money. It's time to pack up and say goodbye to the old place."


	12. let me get next to ya

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The process of moving was a lot different than Yeonjun had anticipated. He didn't expect to learn anything on the trip.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There are so goddamn many references to things in this points to anyone that can find one

The whole moving process flew by. It was faster with the help of magic, and slowed slightly by the sheer amount of stuff in the house. Taehyun refused to allow magic to be used while packing up the herbs in the potions room, and Soobin behaved the same way in regards to his ward materials. Within days, we were packed and debating whether to teleport or take a plane or car. On one hand, teleportation was faster, but also more dangerous unless it was something you'd become an expert in, and it was also very tiring. On the other, planes were easier but there was more chance of damaged goods, and they could be expensive. Cars were the slowest and generally safest for cargo, but also very expensive for long distance travel. 

In the end, Yixing, Yoongi, and Changmin teleported the boxes to the house with Yixing leading the teleport, since he'd actually been to the place. That was, of course, after the real estate agent teleported into the house and gave us ownership of the house in exchange for the fat wad of cash Yoongi handed her. She stood there in her smart black suit with her severe black bun and bright red lips and counted it, and left with a tight smile. She hadn't seemed like someone that was fun to be friends with. 

I offered to let everyone ride on my back so I could fly us over, but Yixing said it was much too far and I'd end up hurting myself if I attempted that. I gave up with a pout and agreed sadly to going on a road trip, though not that sadly because it sounded like fun even if Yixing, Lu, Changmin, and New were leaving. They had done their work afterall, and now it was time for them to go back to their own homes. 

Yoongi sold his fancy red car and bought a minivan, since there were too many of us to safely and comfortably sit in the car like we usually would on such a long trip. Soobin sat in the passenger seat up front, Beomgyu and Taehyun in the back row with three seats while Kai and I sat in the middle row with two. 

Most of the trip was very dull. Staring out windows at the scenery could only entertain you for so long, and I could tell that Beomgyu was having a really hard time, even harder than I was. We played random music from the radio, flipping through stations until we found something that fit our mood for the moment, changing it whenever it got too annoying. We stopped every night to sleep in a hotel or bed and breakfast. Yoongi was apparently well known, had once been in a very respected coven, and he got a lot of free stuff and discounts. What was odd, though, was how uncomfortable he looked when his old coven was mentioned, and how he always protested the free things and tried to pay. 

We were still a couple days out from the new house. "Yoongi," I said softly, not wanting to distract him too much or wake up anyone asleep. Kai was the only other person awake. He glanced at me in the rearview mirror and hummed. "Why did you leave your old coven?" His grip tightened on the steering wheel for a moment, and he sighed. 

"I've changed a lot since I left, and I'm glad for it, Yeonjun. We were all old when we formed the coven, and now we're all even older. There were six of us, and we weren't very…kind. We were feared more than respected, though it seems the fear has mellowed out now. Jungkook was the only one that was really very nice at all, and that didn't last long. He and Namjoon cursed a unicorn and took its horn, though Jungkook didn't know what Namjoon was going to do. He just lured it in with his voice and left. The unicorn killed him a few years later, though that was better than anything else that could've happened to him. We were going to… I don't even remember now. It wasn't very nice. He would've been miserable…" Yoongi murmured, voice soft to keep from waking anyone. 

"You say you were feared. People fear me too," Kai said. Yoongi looked at us in the mirror again. 

"You're only a bit rude. You aren't unnecessarily cruel. Namjoon cursed that unicorn and took its horn just because he could. He didn't even do anything with it, it's just packed away in a box in his attic, I'm sure. You are feared because you don't let people in right away, and you put on the most intimidating face you can to drive anyone away from wanting to know you. We were feared because no one knew what to expect from us. At a moment's notice, we'd just kill someone, just to prove we could. We held no regard for other life, we didn't even like each other. I don't know where they are now, but I don't particularly care. I only hope they've become better people," Yoongi said, sounding bitter and disappointed. 

"Don't sound so upset, Yoongi. You realized you were wrong and left. You changed. You saved me from a worse fate, maybe with someone just as bad as Jongin. I like you the way you are. The past is gone, but it led you here, to be with us. We're moving to China, to have a better chance at starting over. Just like you did when you left your old coven. Don't regret your past," I said quietly. Yoongi nodded and loosened his grip on the steering wheel. He released the breath he'd been holding.

"Go to sleep guys. You need all the energy you can get. We're almost there, and I'm ready to get out of this van, so we won't stop to sleep anymore. Just a couple more days," Yoongi told us. I nodded and leaned back against the seat, closing my eyes. When I felt Kai's hands pulling me closer, I just smiled and snuggled into him. When we'd just met, I'd have protested it. But now I knew he didn't mind, and he wouldn't let me go, so I took advantage of his heat and fell asleep quickly. 

I dreamed of a red-tinted cavern that night.

**Author's Note:**

> [CuriousCat](https://curiouscat.me/catfacekathryn)
> 
> [Twitter](https://twitter.com/catfacekathryn?s=09)
> 
> You can find me here!


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